The Forest of Monsters
by serpentmaster13
Summary: When the princesses notice their sweethearts go missing routinely, they decide to follow the pair into a huge remote forest full of monsters. But will they be prepared for what they will find once they enter; or the consequences of their exiting the forest of monsters. Rated T for violence
1. Chapter 1 Into the woods

**My first upload! Yay!**

**Disclaimer: Mario, Luigi, Daisy, and Peach are owned by Nintendo.**

Now to the Story:

The Forest of Monsters

Peach and Daisy stared at the grand facade of the forest that loomed in front of them. Peach gulped nervously.

"Are you sure they went in here?" She asked Daisy timidly.

"Yep." Daisy replied with no fear in her voice. She marched into the forest. Despite it being late at night, the forest kept the two princesses wide awake and alert. They were following their boyfriends.

The two female royals had recently taken notice that sometimes, at night, neither Mario or Luigi was to be found in the castle, at Toad Town, or at their own house. Polterpup and E. Gadd had searched all of Evershade Valley and a little bit beyond; as well as in all of the many houses Luigi owned and explored. Toadsworth was stationed at Mushroom Castle, and Toad was in Toad Town, but no one had found the two brothers anywhere. This had occurred for a few nights, scattered on the calendar here and there. Then a pattern began to emerge when more and more absent dates were gathered. The night of the full moon and the two nights adjacent to it, the Mario bros had gone. Same thing with the new moon. The two were also gone the day before the moon phase was exactly between half full and full, the milky whiteness on the right side of the celestial sphere. When they looked up the phase, it was listed as the waxing gibbous. The Bros were also gone the night after the waning gibbous, and the night before the waning crescent reached it's most recognizable appearance; exactly between empty and half full.

Daisy and Peach had found the pattern when recording the last set of data about the waning crescent for the third time, predicting the next absence on the three nights of the new moon, and they were right. The Mario bros had gone, and Daisy volunteered to follow them with Polterpup by her side. The princess of Sarasaland had gotten as far as the forest undetected, but by the time she arrived, night was falling. Daisy had decided not to risk the mission at night, or at least that night. She would have been in total darkness with no moonlight at all. Also, despite his training to remain stable without the help of the Dark Moon, Polterpup would not enter the forest. Daisy and Peach had decided to wait for the next phase to go, but on the waxing crescent, Daisy had gotten sick. Peach did not want to go alone, yet only Daisy and Polterpup knew where the forest was. Also, the waxing crescent moon would provide minimal light. The pair of princesses decided to wait for the next night the bros were absent to go.

Now the couple entered the forest under the waxing gibbous moon, feeling the atmosphere immediately seem to change. They followed a well-worn path as creatures growls from other parts of the forest echoed around the trees.

A ways into the trek, huge thing leaped out onto the trail. It was a huge ferret like creature, with disproportionately huge fangs; as long as Luigi was tall. Though it was huge, it would obviously be agile. The thing hissed and rose on it's hind legs. In an apple grove, it would have towered over the trees; but this was a legit forest. The smallest of it's trees were taller than the top pinnacle of Mushroom Castle. The thing pounced, but a brown blur struck first. It barreled into the giant Ferret's side, flying both things off the path and out of view of the princesses. Fierce barking could be heard, as well as hissing and growls. Daisy and Peach ran in the direction that their savior had come from, grateful they were wearing their biking jumpsuits, as their dresses would have gotten caught on the bushes as they retreated. Behind them, a significantly louder squeal rang out in the night. A triumphant howl came from the same direction.

It was of little comfort to the duo. All it meant was a monster that was smaller, but stronger than the giant ferret was done with it's not-such-a-challenging ordeal. Whatever it was, it was now on the trail for a less challenging ordeal. Two little ladies lost in the woods would make a great meal, wouldn't it?

Peach and Daisy heard footfalls behind them. They sped up to lose their pursuer, but it was no use. Peach felt something touch her shoulder and suppressed a scream. When she realized it was just a clean white glove, Peach tuned and hugged the familiar face.

"Mario!" She cried in joy.

"Hey, what are you two doing here?" He asked. Neither princes responded. Both where taking in Mario himself. He had acquired furry triangle shaped ears, but they replaced his normal ones instead of being on top of his head and an addition to the norm. Peach pushed away her questions. Mario had furry ears quite a lot. The only thing was, when he looked mostly human and didn't have a suit on, he usually had two sets, and not one replacing the other. The one other prevalent thing that was alarming about Mario's appearance, was his eyes were red. Normally this wouldn't bother Peach or Daisy because Mario's eye's changed color sometimes, it was a fact. The three colors; red, blue, and no color (just large black pupils that doubled as irises), switched, though they they tended to be blue most often. The thing that was alarming was they were _glowing_ red. Mario didn't seem to mind, or notice.

"Come on," he said, "you guys are farther in than out. You might want to wait out the night at the castle with us.".

Mario headed off into the forest with no fear of the shadows whatsoever. After sharing a brief glance, the princess followed him.

They had entered a circular clearing with a diameter of a sixteen wheeler when Mario tensed suddenly.

Daisy screamed with surprise, fear, and exhilaration as she was suddenly snatched into the air.


	2. Chapter 2 Found them!

**from now on I only continue posting if I get at least 3 new reviews form three different reviewers. This is to make sure that someone cares about this story, otherwise why write it?**

**Disclaimer: Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Daisy are owned by Nintendo**

* * *

Daisy marveled at the sheer mass of the forest as she got a bird's eye view. The thing was absolutely colossal, at the very least four times the Mushroom Kingdom, the Dark Lands, and the Beanbean kingdom combined, and that was the part she could _see._ The ocean of green stretched as far as the eyes could see. The clearing that Daisy had been lifted from was about three fourths from the way to the edge of the trees and to a huge castle. Daisy was getting vertigo, so she decided to behold her captor and look up as opposed to down.

It was a wretched monster that seemed to be part vulture part devil/demon-thing. It seemed to be ambi-petal, with huge opposable thumbs on it's talons and gristly feathered wings sprouting from it's back. Daisy looked away in disgust at it's bald vulture like head to see another shape hurtling through the dark sky toward them, coming from the castle.

It's huge black bat wings and glowing purple eyes gleamed as the shape hurtled toward Daisy and her assaulter. Daisy looked once again at her captor to see how it would react. She was startled as the monster was attacked. Fangs that shined inn the light of the waxing gibbus above pierced the neck of Daisy's captor, as the attacker clamped down with all it's might. Daisy quickly averted her eyes, getting a glance of the wicked sharp claws on the bat winged attacker's... hands?

It all took place in less than a second, at the end of which Daisy was thrown high in the air; the force of the bite causing a see-saw effect with the demon's body as it released it's no-longer-prey. Daisy knew soon she would be at the mercy of gravity, and then at the mercy of a purple-eyed, bat winged, fanged, clawed, monster. Daisy decided to enjoy the fall while it lasted. Gravity took her, and Daisy closed her eyes. It reminded of the time she went skydiving on Wa-hu Island. This fall, however, was much more exhilarating, because at it's end was death. Yet Daisy found that her death was not to be at that moment. Her fall stopped suddenly when she landed in someone's arms.

"Glad I caught you." Said a voice.

Daisy opened her eyes. She was surprised to find her boyfriend staring back at her. Of course she was surprised to see him; not only because he was simply here, holding her bridal style in mid air like it was no biggie, but also how he looked.

His ears where enlarged and pointed like Link's, only bigger. His normally blue, green, or black eyes glowed blood red; not to mention his canines where at least three times, maybe four times as long as they were supposed to be. His sharp nails were somehow not digging in to Daisy's skin. Huge bat wings buffeted the air behind him, keeping the couple aloft with a soft bobbing motion. Luigi's wingspan was huge; each wing was at least three times his arm span from fingertip to fingertip.

Luigi held Daisy there for a moment, just the two of them hovering in mid air, then they descended into the small clearing Daisy had been taken from. The body of her kidnapper lay in the grass, a rather large wolf was sniffing at it curiously. Peach stood next to the corpse, her mouth agape at Luigi, not even noticing or caring about the canine.

Luigi landed in the center of the clearing, put Daisy down gently, and folded his wings into his back. How those huge flappers fit neatly into his back without ripping his shirt at all was way beyond Daisy. His fangs shrunk some as well, but they were still two time as long as normal canines. His nails became regular, and his ears got regular sized, but remained pointed. He almost looked normal again, if you could ignore his eyes, ears, and teeth. Peach marched over to the newly regroundeds.

"Luigi!?" She exclaimed. " What happened to you? You had these wings, and these teeth, and, and..."

"Calm down, he's dormant now," the wolf called from the dead monster, his voice a kind of a growl-mixed speech.

Peach screamed and backed up into Luigi.

"Calm down, it's just Mario!" Luigi told her.

Peach stopped screaming. "Oh" She said sheepishly. "Well, I just wasn't expecting that, that's all."

She turned to Luigi "What happened to your wings and teeth and claws?" She asked.

"They retreat when I'm dormant." He explained, still leaving a lot questions unanswered about the dormant thingy.

Daisy looked at him quizzically. "What about your eyes?" She asked. "They were purple before."

"That's because he's sucked tonight where as he hadn't before." Mario barked, still examining the corpse. "I might even say he's full, if it wasn't impossible for him to be."

Mario looked up from the hole his teeth had ripped into the belly of the corpse. Daisy was surprised that it had no blood on it. Dry pinkish flecks like some sort of super sized dandruff floated out from the belly around Mario, making the image seem almost mystical.

"You sucked it dry, in three eighths of a millisecond." The lycan informed his brother. "In the process, you also snapped it's neck and crushed it's windpipe." he continued, laying a claw on the monster's neck where two puncture wounds ruptured the skin. Each had a three centimeter diameter, but went all the way through the neck, which had been compacted by powerful jaws. The area around the holes had been constricted to the size of Daisy's bicep, although the rest of the neck could encompass her whole head.

"Wow." Peach remarked in a small voice..

"Did you,... do that?" Daisy asked, pointing first to Luigi, then to the mangled neck.

Luigi didn't respond. He was just as shocked. Mario answered for his brother instead.

"He most definitely did do that, beat his record too. Three fourths of a millisecond on a mouse, and the regular kind not the gargantuan kind. This thing, is much larger than your average household rodent. This is what we call a follicle-less, honey badger/vulture thing. The greasy demon for short. I thought it would be a harder kill for Luigi to make, as it's impervious to his venom, but he dealt with it just fine. These are nasty not-so-little creatures. Are you okay?"

He looked up at Daisy, concerned.

Daisy didn't respond right a way, trying to absorb what he had just said, as well as the fact that an animal was talking to her.

"Are you okay?" Mario repeated.

"Yes, I'm fine!" She assured him.

"Good." He growled, satisfied. "We're good at fighting off the monsters in here, but curing the wounds is a whole different story."

"Wait,... did you say his venom?" Peach asked incredulously.


	3. Chapter 3 Luigi's castle

**It has occurred to me to me that If I want any one to review, I have to earn the attention. I'm uploading this chapter in spite of my previous statement because I want to stop delaying with this peremptory gobbldey gook and get on with the dang story. One more chapter after this one, and then we get real.**

**It has also occored to me to use manners, so I will say this: ****_please_**** review, it's killing me to get no feed back what so ever.**

**Disclaimer: Mario Luigi, Peach and Daisy are owned by Nintendo**

* * *

They walked and talked. A few monsters attacked on the way, but the party didn't let it bother them. Sometimes just a growl and a look from Mario was enough. On occasion, one stubborn giganticipuss, echidniclossal or other monster would attack for real, on which case they would die. The puss's large beaver tail and duck beak, each the size of a wild wing race car, where hard to get past and deadly. Luigi had to clear out. His wings, although not at all fragile, would only hold him back. Although the trees here were farther apart than in a regular forest, which allowed the truly huge predators to get through, Luigi's wingspan was greater than the distance between the trees. However, Mario was fast and deadlier than the massive monotreme. After weaving around the tail and bill with incredible grace, he saw an opening and went for it. After landing quickly on it's bill, Mario rolled onto the ground and then under the monster's belly, where it couldn't see him. The puss stopped attacking and became very still, looking for his opponent. Mario slashed the underbelly viciously, creating deep cuts and drenching himself in the blood of the combatant. He had to quickly roll out again before the monster collapsed on top of him.

"Well, what's next?" He asked, standing up on his two hind legs. His claws dug into the ground to make deeper and more detailed foot prints than before.

"You need to wash up." Luigi said, trying not to barf. "There's a stream over that way." He directed, pointing.

Mario raced off, on all fours. The other three followed him. They found him all clean, and mostly dry, with his snout poking in a large bundle of weeds beside a river bed.

"Wow." Daisy remarked in wonder.

The river Mario had washed off in was absolutely huge and very deep, three times the volume of Peach's Castle was held in a section no longer than the the giganticipuss was.

"Look at this." Mario said, briefly bringing his snout up from the bundle of elephant grass. Inside, seven large eggs were nestled in a nest of the large grass.

"She was just protecting her nest." Daisy said forlornly.

"This is horrible!" Peach cried. "Now they won't have a mother."

"Don't worry," Mario assured her. "They don't really need their mother, that's not exactly how giganticipusses function."

He backed out from the elephant grass nest and continued to trot toward wherever the two were taking them.

It was a little while before they reached the castle, which was apparently where Mario and Luigi were taking the princesses. They had followed the river until a smaller one split off of the absolutely huge one. A little further down river, the huge structure was literally placed on the river.

"Make yourself at home." Luigi said when they entered. "Our cutlery doesn't sing or dance, but it's a great place to explore. If you're lucky, there may be otterflies around."

"Otterflies?" Peach asked.

"They're otters with owl wings, and they're really creepy." Mario supplied.

"They're not creepy," Luigi argued, "They're adorable."

"But they can turn their head around all the way."

"But they're so cute and funny."

"And they throw up their food. Every sensible animal will poop it out the other side, not force disgusting germs up there mouth." Mario gagged, his tongue lolling out of his own mouth.

"Don't be so hypocritical. You will eat whatever you catch raw out in the woods, isn't that somewhat unsanitary? Huh bro?"

"Animals do that all the time. What they don't do all the time is eject out of their mouth stuff that their stomach and intestinal juices are on." he said, baring his teeth threateningly.

"But that's why they eject them, they can't digest it. If-"

"WILL YOU TWO QUIT THAT BICKERING!" Daisy growled. Luigi shrunk back right away. Mario's tail shot between his legs as he fell back down to all fours.

"Whatever," he growled. "You'll agree with me when you see them."

* * *

"Oh wow!" Peach said in delight. She had found the kitchen, with lots of otterflies flitting about. One landed on the island and made a big show of licking it's paw. It's wings were flared dramatically, simply demanding attention.

"Look at you, you little cutie!" Peach cooed, planting her elbows on the island and resting her head in her hands.

"Bleck." Mario grumbled reluctant to enter the kitchen.

"Jees Rio, don't be such a scared-y-cat." Daisy teased.

"I'm not scared." Mario proclaimed, though his tail tightly hugging his belly told a different story. "And I'm not a cat… at the moment."

"I told you you're the only one who would ever think these things to be creepy." Luigi said triumphantly. Mario let out a low growl and backed out of the kitchen. He turned tail and trotted elsewhere.

"Is he always that grumpy as a wolf?" Daisy asked.

"Nah," Luigi replied. "He just doesn't like being' wrong, especially when I'm right, especially about the otterflies."

"Who seem to have taken over your kitchen," Daisy observed. "and Peach."

Luigi took in the scene before them again, Peach had a whole mess of otterflies around her, all of them chattering excitably. They adorned not only Peach, but the whole kitchen. There were some swimming in the sink, playing tag in the cupboards, or fencing with knives. Luigi's sharp eras could even pick up shrill high chirps coming from the dishwasher, the otterfly equivalent of singing in the shower.

"Yeah, they pretty much have." He admitted. "They came up from the river," he said, pointing to a structure over a hole in the island, next to the sink.

"It's an indoor well." Luigi explained. "It runs straight down to the river underneath the castle. It used to have a cover, but Mario ripped it off in frustration: biggest mistake of his night-life yet. It let in these fellows, Mario hasn't set paw in the kitchen since."

"What are those ones doing?" Daisy said, pointing to a wet otterfly who was turning on the electric stove.

"Hum, I don't know." Luigi admitted. Daisy was about to ask if they should stop the critters, when Luigi chattered something in a really high-pitched voice.

The otterfly that had turned on the stove dial stepped on to the element and chattered something back at Luigi, pointing with a paw to a TV that was switched off. It stood on it's hind legs and spread It's wings majestically, It's front paws planted at their corresponding hips before falling back onto the element with it's wings and paws spread-eagle.

"Oh boy, that's not going to end well." Luigi grumbled.

"What's it doing?" Daisy asked.

"It's using the electric stove as a tanning bed to turn its fur black so it can become Bat Man, as seen on TV." He replied.

"You can talk to them?" Peach asked, astounded.

Luigi shrugged. "More or less."

Peach looked amazed, and then suddenly discussed, her face contorted into a cringe.

"What's that smell?"

"That would be burning fur." Luigi answered.

Peach made even more of a face.

"I'm gonna go catch up with Mario." she wheezed.

"We're right behind you." Daisy coughed.


	4. Chapter 4 The first big mistake

**Lat part of the story before danger, escapades, attacks, more monsters, horrible puns, cheese fudge, fiddle sticks, fiddle buckets ****fiddle truckloads and the lord of all jackolopes. **

**Disclaimer, Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Daisy are owned by Nintendo.**

* * *

They found Mario in the sitting room crouching on a couch in the living room as if hiding behind the armrest from something that was sitting on the table next to the couch. When the three got closer they could tell the object Mario _was_ hiding from, was a page was open to a picture of an otterfly.

"What'd you got there doggie?" Daisy called.

With a lightning quick paw, Mario flipped the page with a sharp jab.

"It's a book I thought you might want to see." He barked, flipping the page again. "_The Monsters of the Forest_, the complete guide to all the monsters of the forest. Here's the page on the gigantipusses."

Peach trotted over and took the book from the table. Sitting down on the floor she scanned the open pages. Daisy sat down next to her. Luigi placed his buttux on the couch at Mario's backside.

"Very smooth," he whispered mockingly.

Mario flicked his tail straight in his brother's face as a response.

"Dude! you have scent glands down there, don't be stinking up my face." Luigi whined.

Mario growled humourously. Luigi jumped out of the way just in time to avoid a light mist of urine. From that moment on the couch was marked as Mario's.

"Dude! Ewww!" Luigi squealed. His plight, however, went unnoticed as the girls also squealed in disgust at the same time.

"That's just wrong!" Peach exclaimed.

"Mario!" Luigi wailed.

The wolf chuckled.

"That's vile!" Luigi continued.

"I'll tell you what's vile," Daisy argued. "This book says that Gigantipusses give birth to their mate after killing them!"

"Technically, it's not giving birth because they hatch from eggs, but yeah, they do that." Mario corrected.

"But it get's worse!" Peach said. She began to read from the book:

"_The mother lays seven eggs, always four males and three females. One male stays with the mother while the other six head off in three pairs. The male of each pair protects the female and teaches her how to defend herself. When they get to adulthood, if they get there, they mate. Mating kills the male, but he is reincarnated as one of the hatchlings. The tool of great strength and perfect instinct is a worn out body that must be revived inside of his mate. When he hatches, he is the one who stays with the mother. The two will mate again, If the male survives to adulthood."_

"So?" Luigi asked. "It's just the gigantipusses' way of keeping strong blood."

"THEY MATE WITH THEIR BROTHERS AND SONS AND FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! IT IS NOT NATURAL TO GIVE BIRTH TO YOUR BOYFRIEND!" Peach screamed.

"It's not natural to go pee on your bro." Luigi muttered.

"Nothing's natural in this forest." Mario yapped, trying to direction away from Luigi's revolting comment. "The nights are more than twelve hours long, way longer, not to mention those ridiculous flying infectious fur balls flitting about in _my_ kitchen."

"Actually, I inherited the castle, not you and it's my kitchen." Luigi snapped.

"I can just mark it my territory." Mario growled back.

"You're afraid to set paw in it!"

"Am not!"

"Are so!"

"Do you two do this more often here?" Peach asked.

"Well his temper definitely hasn't gotten a positive boost, but it soars his aggression levels." Luigi said disapprovingly.

Mario growled angrily.

The group spent the significantly longer night at the castle. Peach was quite interested in the difference in the brother's behavior, while Daisy enjoyed the change. She could now actually punch Luigi with affection without him saying ow. How cool is that?

Many hours later, the two couples were leaving the forest; their first big mistake.

* * *

**sorry it's so short. Anyway the actions begins here. Well, after here. Next chapter. In the future, or maybe your from the future, and the chapter is available. Heck, maybe its finished! The future is a funny place. In fact most of you are probably from the future, unless the internet crashes forever(randomly) oooookay. Today's 10/9/2014. When are you reading this? And from no always, thank you for your time... and attention.**


	5. Chapter 5 A setting sun

**Sorry it took so long. I really should have posted this sooner. Again, thanks so much for my followers and ****reviewers. It really does help.**

**Disclaimer: Mario, Peach, Luigi and Daisy belong to Nintendo**

Mario felt great. It had been surprisingly easy to tell Peach he was a werewolf. It had a long time ago when he and Luigi had gotten lost in the forest. They had been lucky a pack of werewolves had found them first, though it seemed dumb luck at the time. Mario remembered as if it was yesterday how they had exploded from the bushes. He remembered sacrificing himself to let Luigi get away and into the castle. Mario remembered clear as day getting bit, the terror that had shot through him, the power that had flowed, the temporary insanity. The need to kill had pulsed through his mind. There was too much power, and he had too little strength to control it. Mario remembered how he had focused on Luigi. The need to see his twin brother once more drove him on. Mario remembered waking up just fine on the couch with a worried Luigi standing over him.

Mario and his brother had only been four at the time. Both of them had been surprised to return to normal as soon as they set foot outside the forest, even at night. That had made it easy to keep the secret, until now. Now Peach knew, and she liked Mario just the same. _Why wouldn't she?_ He thought. Nothing was different.

Mario's mood plummeted when he saw the lady.

He first noticed her wandering around. She looked lost, so naturally, he moved closer. When he realized she was human, he was shocked. Humans where a rare sight in the Mushroom Kingdom. An event years ago had resulted in a mass extinction, but there were humans elsewhere in the world. The kingdom of Hyrule was an excellent example. Mario was pretty sure this lady was not from Hyrule. She was old, little more than a withered husk. As soon as she caught sight of Mario, her eyes gleamed in recognition. She started toward him.

Mario ran.

It may have been cowardly, but Mario wanted a second opinion on this. He needed to ask Peach, or Luigi. She may have been friendly, but when the people were unfamiliar, it was usually safer to run. The other factor to weigh in was he recognized her too, vaguely, but he still recognized her. The most creepy part about it was he recognised her back, but it felt like it was a different version of her. It was the way he felt about Mr. L when he first met that nutso. He recognised him, but he recognised a different version of him: Luigi. But at the time, Mario just couldn't put his finger on the name.

It was lunch time, and Mario was enjoying his meal to the fullest. All memory of the strange encounter was forgotten in the embrace of the elegant flavors of lunch time. When Mario was done, he went to the balcony to get some fresh air. He was enjoying the beautiful sunset when Peach came up behind him.

"It's a beautiful sunset isn't it?" Mario asked.

Peach frowned. "Sunset?" She asked. She came out onto the balcony and gazed at the sun. "Something's wrong," Peach said. "It's 2:00 PM, the sun shouldn't be setting."

A familiar feeling welled up inside of Mario. Suddenly he felt himself growing fur, claws, and fuzzy ears. The drive for blood surfaced inside him.

Peach stumbled backwards, stunned.

"Something is definitely not right," Mario growled, dropping onto all fours. He could stand upright, but in this form, all fours felt much more comfortable. "I'm not a werewolf outside the forest, even at night." There was one more thing that was really bothering Mario, something that definitely wasn't right. He wanted to kill Peach. He wanted it very badly. It was surprisingly hard to keep himself from sinking his fangs into her leg and dragging her to the ground. He wanted to make her beg for mercy and then kill her anyway. He wanted to make Daisy watch. He wanted to kill Daisy too. A small voice in the back of Mario's head kept insisting _kill the escapees! Redeem the forest of monsters!_

He decided not to tell Peach. How exactly do you tell your girlfriend that you want to kill her, yet, don't want to kill her?

"What's that?" Peach's question snapped Mario out of his thoughts. A winged shape had risen from the streets and was flying toward the castle. As it got closer Mario could see more detail: snake hair, batwings, and her face…

"Don't look at her!" He told Peach urgently.

"I don't get how you can even see it's a her from this far," Peach said, squinting.

"Go inside, Peach. Get Luigi and Daisy in the library with you. Something is very, very wrong, and I think it's our fault," Mario growled, keeping his ears open and his nose pointed to the winged shape, but he did not dare open his eyes.

The sound of wind buffeting the balcony alerted Mario to the creature's arrival. Her scent stank up the balcony. Then the scent changed. Mario knew that meant she was going dormant, but he still sank into an attack stance. Tentatively, Mario opened his eyes.

She looked young, about eighteen, but you never knew with monsters. She had delicate fingers, long legs and copper-colored hair with a black band about a finger length from the end of each strand. She looked nothing like the lady that Mario saw earlier, but he knew it was her.

"Why are you here?" Mario growled. He flicked his tail toward the setting sun."and what do you know about this?"

"I came to warn your friends inside," she said. "The whole forest is after them,"

Mario growled threateningly. "Why do you care?"

"Because here we are all humans who care about each other," she replied. "My name is Düzenbaz."

Mario was surprised. One did not offer one's name in the Forest of Monsters to strangers, _ever_. Names hold power, and even though what's-her-name had taken a big leap of faith, Mario was not about to reveal his name.

"Come inside," he growled. "Tell us what you know."

Mario lead Düzenbaz to the library, where Luigi and Peach were arguing. Despite the tense air in the room, Daisy was mocking each of them, probably out of boredom.

"So, it is these two the forest is out to kill," Düzenbaz remarked, almost hungrily.

Instantly the noise in the room went out like a candle in the wind.

"What do you mean, the forest is out to kill us?" Peach asked nervously. "A forest can't think, can it?"

"You don't read enough fiction," Daisy sighed.

"That's because it's only fiction," Peach retorted.

"Some legends must be minded," Düzenbaz insisted, "and the forest is too alive. It also feels it has a reputation to keep."

"How does a forest have a reputation?" Daisy asked.

"Remember that teacher's-pet-do-anything-to-get-straight-As kid from school?" Düzenbaz asked.

"Of course!" Daisy exclaimed. "Wait a seco-"

"Well the forest is like that. It will do anything to keep its reputation," Düzenbaz continued. "Except its reputation isn't straight As. The Forest of Monsters's reputation is nothing leaves there alive."

"Well we did, so hah!" Daisy sneered.

"See," Peach remarked, "fiction."

"Not quite," Düzenbaz warned. "If any humans escape, the forest expands its parameters to encompass the whole world, and sends its monsters to kill the escapees. Wherever they are struck down becomes the center of the new forest. Only alloyed monsters have a chance at resisting the forest's will, and even most of them see the event as more like a race of who can kill you two first,¨ she said, pointing to Peach and Daisy.

What makes you different from most alloyed monsters?" Luigi questioned.

¨Nothing.¨ Düzenbaz's hair melded together into flexible tubes, each with the same pattern on it: mostly copper-colored with one black stripe near the end. Each tube formed two eyes, a mouth, and a forked tongue. Düzenbaz's fingernails lengthened into claws, and the gorgon lunged for Peach and Daisy.

But Luigi was faster. The venomous viper-fangs on the top of his mouth snapped into spitting position, and a stream of acidic venom shot out into Düzenbaz's face. She hissed in pain as the front of her face melted.

Mario sighed in relief. With her face melted, Düzenbaz couldn't turn any of them to stone. _That name was so fishy! I bet it was fake!_ The gorgon had been smart to use a fake name. If her plan failed, they still had no power over her.

Luigi cannoned into Düzenbaz, throwing her out of the library while she was still confused. Mario backed him up. Together they drove her all the way out to the balcony before she even knew what was happening. With a final heave, Mario sent her plummeting over the edge.

As she fell, her wings opened. The snakes that were her hair let out a collective hiss. A mist of venom shot from their mouths. Mario and Luigi just had time to turn away before it hit them. Luckily, it only felt like a mist. Luigi opened his wings and took flight to renew the fight.

"Luigi, wait!" Daisy called. "Come back inside, we'll close the doors we'll be safe!"

"She tried to kill you," Mario reminded Daisy.

"Yes, but those snakes in her hair are spitting cobras; they can blind you," Daisy said.

In the air, Luigi heard Daisy's words. His eyes snapped shut.

"I meant come back down! Not fly blind!" Daisy called. "Did you not hear that part about the blindness?"

"He heard every part," Mario assured her. "Luigi, in this form, has some of the best hearing in the whole forest, and that's saying something. Also, I don't know if you noticed, but Luigi is part bat. He can use echolocation, duh." Mario sniffed the air warily. "We need to get out of here, now. I smell them, they're not far. Once they are on our trail, they will not be fooled off of it."

"Who are 'they'?" Peach asked.

Then they heard the howls.


	6. Chapter 6 Daisy's gambit

Mario, Peach, and Daisy raced down the shadowy corridors of the castle. Mario was clearly straining to go faster, but he would not leave the princesses behind. Peach remembered what she had seen from the balcony right before Mario pulled her away. A river of wolves flowed toward the castle with frightening synchronicity. It almost seemed like a dark river. Grays, blacks and browns all weaving in and out of each other approached the town. Peach knew it was one river you did not want to drown in.

Finally, the trio exited through the back doors of the castle into the courtyard. Despite the refreshing, crisp, cold air, Peach was scared out of her wits.

Mario howled melancholically.

"What are you doing?" Daisy hissed. "You'll tell them where we are!"

"I'm calling a friend, he can help us," Mario growled.

"What kind of friend?" Daisy asked. "A manticore? A cockotriace? A hippogriff? or one of your weird combinations of two to seven animals all together? Will he want to kill us too?"

"If he wanted to kill us, why would I call him?" Mario reasoned.

"Because you didn't know that he wanted to kill us." Daisy offered. Mario snorted, very unamused. A furious screech echoed overhead.

"Duck," Mario barked, tackling Peach as Daisy dropped to her knees. A flying shape went careening into the pulled-up drawbridge, shattering it to splinters. A disgruntled gorgon lay in the moat beyond. Mario returned to his feet and leapt across the dark water easily. Peach recovered from her shock and jumped, her dress poofing out to catch the air. She landed daintily on the other side. Turning, she said "You coming Dai-" just as the flower princess hurled herself over the gap with ease, landing in a crouch reminiscent to that of the ninja.

"Come on, lazy brains!" she yelled. "They're here."

The wolves streamed around the sides of the castle, still flowing as if they were a river ready to bash you against its rocks that were the wolves' teeth. However, now the trio was close enough to distinguish the leader of this pack. His matted, scraggly fur was a sickly yellow color. His claws were grizzly with his last victim's cartilage, as well as the dead grass and mud their razor points had pulled up by running over the lawn. His teeth were no better. Just without the mud or grass, and lots more blood.

The trio ran, but they weren't faster than the wolves.

The girls started to lag behind, and Mario wouldn't leave them. Daisy ripped the skirt off her dress and ran like a mad woman, but even in the face of death Peach was a little more hesitant. It cost her precious seconds. The alpha wolf grabbed the edge of Peach's skirt in its mouth. Peach screamed.

A black rocket plummeted out of the sky, bringing hard paws down on the alpha's skull. The wolf let go of Peach, knocked out cold. The wolves trailing their alpha lost their balance as the broken mustard form tripped them up.

"Luigi?" Peach asked.

"Nope!" A voice growled, right beside her. The voice came from another wolf, this one was flying on large bat wings, very similar Luigi's. He seemed rather dashing for a wolf. His jet black fur was slicked back so it clung to his form, which was small and lithe compared to Mario. He swooped down in front of Peach and suddenly stopped running.

Peach fumbled onto his back, and in an instant he was off again. He soared over the forest behind the castle and swooped down to where Mario's and Daisy's forms could only just be made out. Landing in a half-run and tucking in his wings, he growled to Mario, "Were you missing this one?"

"Yes, thanks," Mario replied. "Hop on Daisy."

Daisy wasted no time mounting the wolf. She could see the blood-red eyes of the alpha again. The wolves had not fumbled for long, and they were still much faster than the two princess.

"Hold on," Mario growled, and the two wolves went full speed.

Werewolves are fast.

It was a fact new to Peach. They sped through the trees, weaving and dodging the large trunks and leaping gracefully over the fallen ones. The two were doing 60 miles per hour, easy. It took a while, but the yaps of the pack faded into the distance. However, in the back of her mind, Peach knew that as soon as they stopped, the sounds would return. Not only that, but she could tell that Mario was beginning to tire. Despite the fact that he was running for her life, Peach didn't want him to overexert himself. Suddenly a shadow fell over them. A very big shadow.

"There's a stream if you turn off to your left," Luigi called. "They'll lose the scent!"

"It won't work, we can't get properly submerged," Mario called. "Even if our paws lose some scent, it will still be on the trees we've passed!"

"Where have you been!" The black wolf called up irritably.

"Looking for a way to get you out of this!" Luigi snapped.

"Do you two really have to get into that now?" Mario whined.

"YES!" Luigi and the wolf snapped at the same time.

"Well too bad, because you can't! We are running for our lives!" Mario retorted.

"I'm not," The black wolf pointed out. "I could stop right now and I wouldn't be killed by them."

"If you stop right now, I'll kill you," Luigi snarled.

Amid all of the monsters arguing, Daisy was silent. It struck Peach as strange. Daisy loved arguing. Even if she had no idea what the argument was on, she'd hop right in as if she'd started it. She also loved finishing arguments. She had stated several times that was one of her favorite things about being a princess, (an astounding upside in a voluminous list of reasons why being a princess sucks) and yet, she wasn't ending this argument at all. Furthermore, a look of deep thinking etched her features. That was the most enigmatic thing Peach had ever seen. Daisy never thought deeply. She seldom thought at all. Intuition, recklessness, and impulsiveness were her three middle names. Then her features hardened into a decisive face. Peach groaned inwardly. She knew that face. That face meant I'm going to do whatever it is I have on my mind no matter how hair-brained, stupid, or absolutely ridiculous it is; I'm going to do it alone, and there is no way on the face of the planet you will stop me from doing it unless it clearly, completely, and directly endangers my friends to sudden death. Peach became more confused as she saw a single tear trace its way down Daisy's face.

"These wolves won't give up will they?" She muttered to herself.

"No they won't," Luigi answered her instinctively. "They're hunting machines, unalloyed werewolves especially. They are full-blown monsters and relentless pursuers. Alloyed Werewolves, on the other hand, are still part human. Their resilience is admirable, and their speed is about ten miles per hour more than their monstrous packmates, but extra stamina is something to be desired. Why are you asking?"

He glanced at Daisy, who stared back at him. Peach could see it in her eyes that Daisy had not wanted Luigi to hear a word she said. Then again, if he was regular Luigi, he could not have heard a word she said. But, if he had good enough ears to use echolocation, he definitely had some freaking awesome ears. Part of Peach wanted to experiment, but now was not the time.

Daisy had a faraway look on her face as she gazed at Luigi.

"I'll miss you, you know," she whispered.

Then she jumped off Mario's back. everyone was so shocked they could only stare for ten whole seconds.

In those ten seconds, Mario and his friend put at least a sixth of a mile between them and Daisy.

Also in those ten seconds, the pack had gotten five thirty-sixths of a mile closer to Daisy. Peach did some quick calculations in her head. Assuming the wind speed (which was to her back), Mario's speed, the pack's speed, the assumption that werewolves cannot turn on a dime at full speed, the other assumption that it takes time to build up to full speed again, and then turn on a dime again after picking up a princess and build up to full speed again, there was no way to go back for Daisy on foot.

"Daisy!" Luigi cried.

He, however, had no trouble turning on a dime. At least, he would have had no trouble if Peach hadn't grabbed his wing. Luigi yanked it from her grasp, or tried to. Peach had a surprisingly good grip, and the best he could do was keep himself level with his other wing.

"We have to go back!" He insisted.

"That's not what Daisy would want," Peach said. "Don't you see? She's given them a reason to slow down. We can escape now."

Surprise blasted itself onto Luigi's face. "It's not like you to be this heartless, Peach," He said coldly.

"It's too late," Peach said. Half a minute had passed since Daisy had left them. Half a mile was between her and Luigi now.

"Besides, it was the only way to stop them," Peach continued. She let go of Luigi's wing. He still glided along beside them, despite his urges. His eyes had glazed over in disbelief.

Peach felt her dress ruffle as her mount unfurled his wings and lept into the air.

"Mario, get on Luigi," The black wolf commanded. Mario gave a flying leap into the air and landed squarely on his brother's shoulders, once again in his mostly human form. The jolt seemed to shock Luigi back to the world, and determination hardened his features.

"Come on!" He called. "Follow me!"

In truth, he was desperately trying to shut out Daisy's vicious insults towards the pack as she made her last stand.


	7. Chapter 7 The Trap

**Gosh, it's been some time since I last uploaded sorry about that, cause I've had this chapter just sitting around for a month by now. Sorry**

**Mario, Luigi, and Peach belong to Nintendo**

The night was crisp and clear, rather refreshing in fact; especially after the chase. Peach didn't notice, not really. The loss of Daisy still stung like a slap to the face so hard that the wind was unable to soothe it. The worst part was that she couldn't change the past.

They were back at Luigi's castle, resting on just one of the multiple balconies it seemed to have. Mario was leaning over the rail. His ears where erect, and if you looked close enough, you could see his nose twitch as he sampled the night air for scents. Luigi said he had gone inside to search the library for information, but Peach thought that he had wanted to get away from Mario's "friend."

The large black wolf with bat wings had turned into a guy as well. He had pale skin, scruffy black hair, and intelligent, glowing red eyes. His ears had been distorted the same way Luigi's had. However, something about his smile seemed more sinister than friendly. Maybe it was the pointed teeth, the bushy eyebrows, or maybe even the cargo pants or black tee. More likely, it was that there was fear behind his cocky expression; it was most prevalent when he looked at Mario.

In any case, Peach didn't like him, and was glad when Luigi returned to the balcony.

The only clue Mario gave that signified he even noticed his brother's return was how his right ear swiveled backwards, possibly catching the faintest trace of Luigi's footsteps, possibly. Peach, however could not hear a thing. The silence of his footsteps was absolute.

"Everything the gorgon said was true, according to multiple accounts," Luigi said. "The forest will shift so its center will be where the blood from the death blow was spilled."

"What if she suffocates?" Asked the black-winged-wolf-guy.

"Wherever her last breath was taken becomes the center," Luigi answered.

"How do you know that it wasn't just where she died?" He retaliated.

"Because certain people actually killed a cursed maiden and collected her blood before it fell to move the forest for their own personal gain," Luigi retorted, sounding a little ticked.

"Then what ab-"

"Others have also suffocated men inside bottles and let out the air and the forest sprung forth," Luigi spat.

"I was just asking," the other party haughtily replied.

"Luigi, do you and Chuck always have to fight?" Mario sighed sourly.

The fear in Chuck's eyes soared.

"My dear alpha," he crooned, "you can't blame your brother for such things. He's a slave to his instincts. You just can't force vampires to like each other."

"But you're a werewolf, aren't you?" Peach asked, confused.

"My dear lady! I… am a chupacabra."

"Bless you," Luigi sniffed.

Chuck growled at the snide comment.

Luigi's wings unfolded from his back and he took to the air, releasing a grade-A raspberry from his mouth as he did so. His lips may have been shaped to avoid his elongated canines from puncturing them, but it made them the perfect shape for maximum vibration.

"Chupacabras are those things that attack goats, right?" Peach asked

"Chupacabra does mean goatsucker, and that's where our myth came from. Goats started disappearing in the night and were found dead with two puncture holes in their heck's the next morning. People who thought they had found actual dead chupacabras had only found wolves with mange. It's kind of sad that nobody ever thought about the possibility of a cross between a vampire and a werewolf," Chuck explained.

"Probably because nobody thought the two kings of monsters would ever mate to foster such a despicable, back-stabbing, no-good, overpowered, arrogant, sly, manipulative, and mutilative, monster like you," Luigi ranted under his breath.

"Best control your jealousy, buddy-boy, or I'll twist your wings until you'll kill yourself to get me to stop," Chuck whispered, unknown to Peach or Mario, but Luigi heard every bit of it.

"I'll rip you up until your father comes out of the underworld to plead for your release," he threatened.

"You leave my father out of this!" Chuck snarled.

"Why, because you're ashamed of him?"

"Luigi!" Mario yelled. "Control your instincts. Why don't you go inside and do something helpful."

Mario didn't even turn around, which only made the rejection seem all the more horrible. Peach only had a second to glimpse the hurt in Luigi's eyes before he melted into shadow and was gone.

"I think I'm going to… go to... the... bathroom! Yes, the bathroom!" Peach said.

Chuck glared at her suspiciously.

"Follow the smell of something mortifyingly bad, but not that smell of something _really super bad; _you know?"

"Got it!" Peach said. She ventured into the castle.

Mario's right ear once again swiveled forward.

"You know she is lying to you," Chuck warned.

"I can smell lies just as well as you can," Mario reminded Chuck.

However one true thought played over and over in his mind:

_They should have been here by now._

Peach was effectively lost in two minutes. She figured that she would just follow wispy clues to find which way Luigi had gone. Something like his retreating shadow, the echo of his footprints, the tip of his wing disappearing around a corner would lead Peach to their owner. None of that revealed itself. Luigi had efficaciously vanished.

However, the farther Peach ventured, the more she heard what seemed to be discontented murmurings. She took hallways, and soon the murmur grew to an utterance, a yell and a shout. Peach turned a corner to be blasted with sound. So loud she had to retrace her steps to behind the corner and brace herself before she could battle through the waves again.

She had entered a huge cylindrical room with a floor that was at least as big as Bowser's ego. It had some rather plush brown, gold, silver, and black sofas as well as comfy chairs, from recliners to orthopedics. Many had two slits in the back of them. There were also loveseats, although not many, and several tables. All of them lay on a massive blood-red shag carpet. The whole room filled from the ceiling to floor with books, and on the ceiling paced Luigi.

He was so wound up that he filled the whole room with sound, a fact that Peach would have found impossible if it where not happening at that very moment. His wings flapped viciously, although not at regular intervals like they probably should have been. Luigi was usually such a calm and easygoing guy that to see him this angry threw Peach for a loop. Ranting at the top of your lungs on the ceiling upside down had to be some type of extreme talent, but all Peach could experience was pain. She covered her ears the best she could with the two pillows from the nearest loveseat and screamed as loud as she could: "LUIGI!"

He was so surprised he forgot he could fly for a moment. He recovered halfway into his descent and floated to the ground.

"What's up?" He asked nervously.

"Well you were up there, on the ceiling."

"Yeah, just looking for something useful," he said, spitting out the last couple of words.

Peach placed a hand on his shoulder. "What's up with you and Mario?"

Luigi sighed, like this was a painful topic he'd rather not share. He took to the air about halfway up to the ceiling, retrieved a book, and settled down at a table. He began to flip through the pages.

Peach took her time strolling over, and by the time she got there, Luigi had found the page he wanted.

His eyes closed slowly and he exhaled like he was about to regret what he was about to do.

Peach read the chapter title.

"_The Werewolf Scourge._ That sounds like a fantasy story," she remarked.

"This is no fantasy," Luigi promised. "For thousands of years, the vampires have hated the werewolves. So much so that it became an instinct."

"Is that why you two argue so much more in this forest?" Peach asked.

Luigi nodded solemnly. "The worse part is the effect it's had on the werewolves. When he's in this forest, it's a challenge for Mario to feel compassion for me. Werewolves are pack animals, and some of the most compassionate monsters in this forest, but only the unalloyed canines can feel that bond with others. Alloyed werewolves naturally feel no positive emotions to any monster except for other werewolves."

"Wait, what is the difference between an alloyed monster and an unalloyed monster?" Peach asked.

"The technical difference is that unalloyed monsters don't have souls, but I think they do. Alloyed monsters are all part human, and once out of the forest will be normal. Also if they die, they're dead. If an unalloyed monster ventures out of the forest, they instantly die. If they are killed in the forest, however, they will be resurrected."

"Got it. So, why can't alloyed werewolves feel anything?"

"It's supposed to make them great pack leaders. If they feel no compassion towards monsters outside of their pack, it is harder for their intentions to waver, and without emotional attachments, it is easier to see the big picture."

"But the opposite is true!" Peach said. "Without feelings, how could anyone see anyone big picture?"

"They can smell them."

"They can smell feelings… like.. other than fear?"

"That's what the book says."

"How do you know you can trust the book? It was written by vampires," Peach pointed out.

"We have our ways," Luigi replied.

"But I bet you can't find a way to keep me from dying," Peach said, forlorn. "Or a way to keep you and Chuck from fighting."

Luigi's face turned sour and strangely: guilty.

"He's right you know. I am a slave to my instincts."

"Aren't we all?" Peach asked. "Well, at least when we have superbells. Besides, if you were really a slave you'd rip open my neck this instant, right?"

"Actually I'd probably just suck you dry, but I guess you're right."

"Besides, negative one is equal to negative one."

"It doesn't matter. I wronged him more than he could ever repay with insults and poking."

This comment took Peach by surprise. "You couldn't have done anything that's possibly as bad as you think it is." Peach reassured him.

"I killed his father."

Nothing could have prepared her for that. "What! But, how?" she stammered.

"It was an accident, and to be fair, he tried to kill me first," Luigi said sulkily. "But it doesn't change what I did."

"Sure it doesn't, but you don't have to feel guilty for an accident that happened in the past. Then is not now, and we need to focus on what's ahead: finding a way for me to not die."

Luigi shook himself. "Right," he said. He unfurled his wings and soared to the top of the library. Peach hadn't noticed it before, but there was a massive, half-finished map on the ceiling of the whole Forest of Monsters. Little baskets teemed with more rolled-up papers: the notes for the project. Luigi grabbed some of his notes from the ceiling and another book closer to the bottom of the wall and rejoined Peach at the table. He spread out the rolled-up piece of paper on the table, and Peach saw it was a miniature of the map on the ceiling. The whole forest was a circular shape. Close to the circumference of the circle and equidistant from each other where eight castles. A ninth castle was placed in the center.

"I'm not sure how we can prevent you from dying. Still working on that, but we can prevent the forest from shifting; taking over the Mushroom kingdom as it does." Luigi pointed to one of the castles around the rim.

"We're here, in the Castle of the Waning Gibbous," he explained. "Each castle has a shadow-travel system between them. It only opens for a few minutes once per night at the crest of high tide."

"But there's no ocean around here," Peach pointed out.

"It's when high tide would be were this the ocean; basically when the moon is directly above the center castle."

"That makes sense," Peach remarked.

"If we travel to the opposite side of the forest, to the castle of the waxing crescent, it gives us plenty of room to roam, and when we do release this curse, the forest will shift away from the Mushroom Kingdom, and not overtake it."

"Luigi, that's wonderful!" Peach said, overjoyed. "You've found us more time!"

It seemed to make him smile. "Come on, maybe I can convince Mario before it's time to leave."

The two rejoined Mario and Chuck on the balcony. As soon as Mario smelled his brother he whipped around growling. The Werewolf was really on edge. Every fiber of his body knew that the pack should have been there by now, yet they weren't.

To Luigi's credit he didn't jump, although Peach did.

"Sorry," Mario apologized.

Chuck was unamused. "Did you find anything useful at least?" he groaned.

Luigi explained his plan. Chuck looked somewhat uneasy.

"Say we did go to the castle of the waxing crescent, and we either released Peach from the curse, or got her killed. Wouldn't the forest just shift the other way and cover some poor old village who had nothing to do with it?"

Peach's heart sank. "You're right. We can't just shift it somewhere else and dump this burden on others. We have to keep the forest from shifting."

"Then we could travel to the center castle," Luigi reasoned. "We will be confined in there until we figure out a cure, but the forest will only shift by a matter of buildings and not half a country. Besides, the grand library of the central castle has books from all over the world. I'm sure that could at least help."

"Great! How long until the portal opens?" Peach asked.

"In a couple of hours. We have some free time to kill,." Luigi answered.

"When you are the prey, there is no such thing as free time," Chuck reminded them. "I'll do a security sweep, and maybe bring back some prey for you two. Hunger will only make the kill instinct worse."

Marvin climbed onto the thick stone railing and lept off, turning into his chupacabra form and rising on the night air just before hitting the ground. He circled around the castle once before the shadows swallowed him and he was gone.

"Marvin may bring something back for you, but most definitely not for me," Luigi said. "Anything worth catching he will suck dry himself. I'll be back."

He launched himself off the balcony and disappeared under the tree line.

"Are you going to leave me here too?" Peach asked Mario.

"No," he replied. "I wouldn't leave you alone in a place like this."

"Should you call them back? In horror movies when they split up is when the bad stuff happens."

"Both Luigi and Chuck are perfectly capable of holding their own. They are masters of the night."

"So we have some time," Peach realized. "One thing I never got, why are both of you so sure that Daisy is gone? Werewolves become werewolves by being bit by a werewolf, right?"

"There is a little more to it than that." Mario said. "Once you are bitten, you have to survive the madness."

Peach was taken aback. "Madness?"

"At first, it's an unbelievable rush of power that few mortals will ever experience. However your mind has to control and withstand that wave of power, or it will flip you and drown you. Less than ten percent of bitten males survive, and zero females have ever lived. This is also assuming that they just bit her, and didn't rip her arm off. No, Daisy is gone."

Luigi returned before Chuck did. His now glowing red eyes somehow made him look less threatening to Peach because she knew that there was a less chance of him biting her. Mario seemed indifferent, but Peach knew better. His mind was simply clouded by something concerning him. She had no idea what it was, but whatever it was it was tying his tail in a loop. Mario hated mind games. Whenever he was confronted by one he just froze, trying to piece together the puzzle.

Chuck returned _much_ later than Luigi did, presumably fighting off monsters trying to make their way to Peach. Just as he had promised, he brought a carcass for Mario, who wolfed it down. Just as Luigi had predicted, Chuck had brought nothing for him, which was fine with Luigi.

When the time had come, soon before midnight, Luigi showed them to the shadow travel center of the castle.

It was a large rotunda, open to the sky that seemed to be empty. Different phases of the moon were beautifully muraled around the walls, each one touched the floor and rose up about six feet from the floor and looked like doorways. In the center was a gaping black hole about seven feet in diameter.

"Is that the portal?" Peach asked.

"Yep," Luigi answered.

"Are you sure it's not a bottomless pit?"

"Nope."

"Well that's reassuring," Peach mumbled before jumping in.

"That was interesting," Chuck commented. "You got quite some girl there alpha." He followed Peach's lead and jumped. Luigi gave Mario a questioning glance. Mario returned it with a shrug.

Together, they jumped into the hole - right into an ambush.

They fell out of the shadows into an almost identical room to the one they'd left, except this one was filled to the brim with wolves. The pack had beaten them there.

**Thank you for your time.**


	8. Chapter 8 The pack returns

**It's been a year since I've uploaded and I'm so sorry. I truly apologize for the wait.**

**Mario, Luigi, and Peach belong to Nintendo**

* * *

The full moon shone directly down on a sorry scene.

Mario cursed himself. He should have seen this coming. The water recedes before the tsunami hits; and they were all about to drown.

"How did they know where we were headed?" Peach asked.

"That would be me," Chuck said nonchalantly. He strode into the pack, dropped into his wolf form, turned around and growled at Mario.

"And now, if you would so kindly surrender the fraulein, and join me, I will spare you,"

"And what about my brother?"

"I'll rip him to shreds,"

"you'll have to catch me first," Luigi snarled, but he didn't run. Fleeing would mean abandoning Peach, and that was something he was unwilling to do.

Chuck flicked his tail, giving a hostile signal.

As one the whole pack relaxed their haunches and sat with their muzzles to the sky.

Then they howled.

Bright white beams of light shot out of the muzzle of each wolf, soaring to the moon above. The whole milky white sphere seemed to glow brighter before it released a column of its light downward, striking the middle of the rotunda.

Then Luigi screamed.

It only lasted for seven seconds, but the poor thing was clearly in agony.

When the howls finally stopped, and the moonbeam shut of he crumpled to the floor, not moving.

"Luigi!" Mario cried. He turned to Chuck and snarled. "What was that for?"

"That was to keep him subdued," Chuck replied "while a pack punishes their treacherous alpha."

With a flick of his ear, the two wolves next to Chuck, the yellow male who chased them through the forest, and a wiry but well-muscled warm-brown she-wolf, lunged forward and grabbed Mario with their teeth, latching on with a bite that would crush a three-year-old-stale loaf of bread like jello. Mario fought and scratched, and actually gave his packmates a run for their money, or prey. Cuck got to his paws and turned around, trotting toward the exit of the rotunda. Three more wolves leisurely paced up to Mario and helped their companions drag him through the pack after Chuck. The whole pack flowed after them, slamming the door hard; and locking it behind them. Peach ran up to the door and slammed her fists on it, but it didn't budge.

"It's no use Peach," Luigi groaned.

"You're telling me," the princess groaned under her breath.

"I don't mean escaping, I mean life from now on," Luigi clarified. "We're toast. Even if Mario escapes, and I'm not sure that he could, the first thing the pack will do is come back here and rip us to shreds. I can barely move, and I can't even begin to recover until I'm out of the moonlight, in the shadows near the wall. I'm also pretty sure that I'm way too heavy for you to move me there."

"But this isn't checkmate. If I could find the strength to drag you over there, what next?"

"Then I would recover enough to move, but not enough for fight by the time that they return for us."

Peach skimmed her fingertips along the edge of the room, scanning for trap doors.

"There aren't any trap doors either" Luigi said, detecting the soft zipper-like sound of Peach's gloves on the wall.

"How do you know? Castles are always full of trap doors. I thought you would know that by now, with how many castles you've been traipsing though,"

"I know because rotundas like these where used in the old days for dogfights." Luigi replied. "Vampires from all over the forest would capture werewolves, throw them through the portals, and fight them to the death in rotundas like this one. There was no way for them to escape. The locked doors were shut too tight even for a werewolf to break, and the seats where the observers would observe were too high, and the walls to scale to get there were to shear, for the werewolves to climb up."

Peach stepped back to stand by where Luigi lay and looked up. Sure enough, a sort of balcony overlooked the floor of the rotunda, shrouded in shadow. The problem was getting the lifeless heap at her feet up into the towering shadows above her.

Peach had no idea where to start, so she decided to remember her classes in un-hostage-ing, at least that's what Toadsworth had called them. They were an incredible waste of time in Peach's opinion, but every time she got captured Toadsworth insisted they continue. None of his techniques helped her in the embrace of Bowser, but maybe this time it would finally pay off.

_First, when trying to get something from one place to another, such as the key to your cage, think of your simple machines. _Peach remembered. "What was that acronym?" She wondered out loud.

"What acronym?" Luigi replied.

"The simple machines acronym,"

"Pis Law," Luigi provided.

"Right," Peach said. "Pulley, inclined plane, screw, lever, axle and wheel, wedge." She listed.

"Too bad, we don't have any of those materials."

_Never discard an item of any use you have, and never overlook an tool you many be provided. _Toadsworth had also said.

Peach scanned the room.

There was nothing in the arena of use at all. The floor was all stone, the walls where all barren, and the ceiling was all blank. No carpets, or pictures or chandeliers were up for use. The doors where the only things that stood out, and the doors didn't have doorknobs on the inside.

Nothing. No mouse holes, No windows, not even a bobby pin was available, not that it would have been any use. The whole room was barren, except for herself, and Luigi.

And then something hit her: maybe Luigi was her biggest tool of all.

* * *

**Thank you for your time in reading this, and once again I apologize for the wait**


End file.
